Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-04-09

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ELIJAH NJ. HAINEs. times that every
body excepting himself has forgotten
the number. lie never forsets any
thing. He hsN bern three times speaker
OF the house, : last election, two years ago
giving him a NATIONAL reputation 1t was a
fe,uliar, almost picturesque, election. Elijah
WAS the leader Of the independent party. The
party consisted of Elijah himself. solitary and
alone There were seventy-five Republicans,
seventy-tiv Democrats and Elijah The Re
pubiirans didn't want him. nor Vet the Dem
orratS They were 20 earnest in their ,llsIn'
ClinatioH 10 take him that only after a month
Of squIrru!nS were they able to swallow the
bitter do~a. Then Elijah was elected He
proved great sIsaker. As a parliamenta-
riSn he i without superior in the wild west.
In fact the has written q book on parlismen-
tary law. He was 50 much q parliamcn-
tartan that with him in the chair the
house couldn't do much Of anything be
didn't want it to do. and in some way managed
90 DO about everything he did want. He was
speaker when the lamented Logan was re-
elected seuator. and before his death Logan
testified that bat for the old mans wonderful
control OF the turbulent elements in the
hous, there world have been disorder and
blorishei. Though ceaselessly and pbe-
nomenally active, Elijah always has time TO
talk He is a wonderful talker. You are
lucky il YOU get away from HIM in two hours
He talks to some purpose, too, aud the time
flies His memory Is prodlgIous lie Will
tell you OF incidents occurrin. when Chicago
was an Indian trading post, and never forget a
name nor skip detail Notwithstanding his
years, he can make a political campaign with
the best of them. Such mixing among the
voters, such art, such riding night and day.
and speechifyins and string pulling, as Elijah
i capable Of, YOU never saw. Is he not
wonderful old man.
But Elijah VI. Haines-they say the M
stands for Melchi1edek-has a hobby, and
it is of tais hobby I wish 70 write Elijah's
hobby is Indians. or "Injuns, as he invaria-
bly, calls them. He has studied the red man
as others have studied geology, or physiology.
or psychology, or baseball He knows all
about Indians. has a vast collection Of Indian
curiosities, Possesses probably the largest
library OF Indian hooks there is occasionally
travels 10 far of Indian territory or Montana
% visi, and study real live red men, and is,
notwithstanding his other activities, writing
a book on Indian names and occasionally de-
hvering an Indian lecture before western col
leges and societies l never heard him lecture,
but once spent a Sunday at his beautiful
home on the shores of Lake Michigan, and
heard nothing but ~lnjun" from Saturday
night till Monday morning. During q few
hours of ftful slumber ! dreamed of Indians
only TO he awakened shortly after daybreak
b. war whuop from nv host. calling me
once rsore to the council fire. During that
Sunday learned more Of Indians than i ever
knew before-more i'll fact than had sup
posed ;nybOly knew.
Why, not long ago" said Elijah, the
p,7'yhet and patron Of the noble red man, "a
p-uminent officer Of the United States army,
writing officially from n frontier post, spoke
OF the Indian language as q jargon' Jar
gon. indeed! This officer, and millions Of
other people, don't appear TO know that the
lTJun language possesses regular organiZa-
tioa, that 1t Is perfectly complete, exempt
from all confusion and irresularity, and
governed !y fixed laws. II is particularly
rich in names for all objects of nature,
throughout tie vegetable and animal king
dom, even & wn TO the smallest object. True,
the lnjUn bad some fiighty notions in select
ing his own ranes, generally going TO the
heavens for them. and bringing down such
examples as 'Au be-tuh-g Sc Zhig, n center of
the sky; 'Bakwa-me-auShe,' low peallng
thunder. and 'Wau-kun-nung,' the morning
star: but he lIai some sensible ideas concern
ins the diniiuutive, the feminine gender and
other phases of speech. Forinstance in some
groups the female gender was invariably
marked by tue terminal syllables 'equa,' as
'Baurn-wa wa zhig-eqna,' woman of the
thunder cloud 1t -was not neces-
sary to speak of an Injuu woman
as a madame or q miss-her name in
itself Indicated sex. And look at the sim
piicity and charm of this method Of adding
the diminutire, when we English speak
ing people want 10 pay one of the fair
Sex a compliment Of calling her a little rose
bud womGu, we have 10 employ four words, /
bc-nE!ny with the little and winding up by |
telling y uEt L Is hats LITTLE. e, a woman.
But tie Indian does not do il that way. H |
says 'Gelne,' meaning rosebud, adds 'ance.' /
si snifyh.. little, and finishes with 'equa'
woman - 'kenne ance-equs' - little rosebud
woman Isn't that neat: OF course il i, and r,
il IS a fair sample of the simplicity and form
running through the lnjun's whole language,
whi.-h the army officer called a jargOn!
"p.d y'm ever stop To think how much our I
language is indebted to the lnjuni lie gave !
u such names for animals as mink, alligator, |
morse raccoon, skunk, Cpossum, muskuks and I
aml pr-tiS 70 muskrat; lie gave US hackma-
tn K, taIuaracs, mahogany, samp, succotaSh, I!
lo|!ny, tobacco, potato, tomato. squash, |
mango, pecan and persimmou / remember |
reading some time ago learned paper |
on the origin Of the word 'skeezucks,' /
S. often heard in New England, the writer
tracing II back, on trying TO trace it, TO the /
N"!InsuS. The fact Is that that word is
PH;nut for worthless fellow. And what
would We have done for geographical names
but I"r Ia" InJuu: Seventeen states bear
naiuc~ Which he gave us-Connecticut Ala
iam.. Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, /
Ohio, Illinois Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa,
Texas, Arkansas Missouri, Mich |
isan, Kansas and Oregon-as do six Of tho .
eight territories. Nearly all Of the principal
rivers bear Iniun names. Many of the Injun I
names have been corrupted until their /
original form and significance huve been lost.
Few people understand that the words Miami
and Maunee, names Of rivers in Ohio are
really one and the same, the former being the
French and the latter the English orthogra-
ply Of the Injun word "Me-au-mee."
Moreover, tine Injun has given US hun
dre'is Of words and terms in daily use, now
parts of our language, and their origin un-
known or forgotten. He has given US MANY
apt expressions, and metaphors, too. such as
TO bury the hatchet' for making peace; the
rivers run with blood for war in the country;
you have spoken with your iEs only and not
from tls hsart;' .yos stopped my ears for